Referendum in Stuttgart failed: votes for track construction are missing!

Referendum in Stuttgart failed: votes for track construction are missing!

A disappointing result for the citizens' initiative “Bahnhof mit Zukunft”: The referendum on the development of the track apron at Stuttgart Central Station did not receive enough votes. As the Statistical Office of the City of Stuttgart announced today, the valid signatures are not sufficient to allow a referendum. Despite a dedicated collection of signatures between July and October, only a good 18,000 of the more than 20,000 signatures collected could be verified. This was explained by SWR.

The citizens' initiative worked intensively to prevent the planned development, which is related to the controversial Stuttgart 21 project. According to Zeit, the initiators viewed planned new buildings covering 85 hectares to create up to 5,700 apartments as a threat to the old terminus station, which currently still has 16 tracks. The new station, on the other hand, will only offer eight tracks, raising concerns about accessibility and usage.

The signature collection

In detail, the city determined that only 18,270 of the signatures were actually valid. However, the required quorum was 20,000 valid signatures, and these signatures alone had to come from EU citizens who had been registered in Stuttgart for at least three months and were over 16 years old. The initiator Hannes Rockenbauch criticized the high error rate in the signatures collected and called on the local council to allow a referendum.

In a legal dispute about the starting point of the three-month period for collecting signatures, there were different opinions: While the city assumed it would start on July 15th, the initiative did not see the start of the period until July 24th - this would have led to a later deadline for the submission of signatures. Despite more signatures being submitted by October 27th, the total number remained below the required minimum. (image source)

The future of the track apron

In July, the local council approved the development plan for the access tracks to the terminal station, which forms the basis for this massive new development. The plans not only provide for living space for up to 10,000 people, but also sustainable development of the area as a whole. Nevertheless, it remains to be seen how the population will accept this development, as the “Bahnhof mit Zukunft” initiative continues to vehemently oppose the development of the track apron and also the Rosenstein area (image source).

In view of the failed initiative, we now know that change in Stuttgart can only be achieved slowly and with broad support from the population. Next time? Who knows, there's still a lot to come!